When we moved into our house the previous owners left one book in the bookcase…… Black House by Stephen King. We weren’t quite sure what to make of that.

So I often overbuy something I think will alleviate the stress. When we got a new puppy and I was anxious about training him I bought too many toys and treats as well as a training course. When we had mice, I overbought traps. So nothing fun, I just try to throw money at a problem in hopes of fixing it.

Thanks for all the music suggestions. I'm moving from one YouTube video to another to expose myself to new music.

Thank you! We'll hold off and wait to see if there are any symptoms.

We found a tick embedded in my daughter today. We think she got it hiking Sunday or Monday in the woods (it’s now Tuesday). We also saw one on her shirt that day but she didn’t see this one until today. We haven’t seen any rash yet. I’m thinking of calling her doctor tomorrow and asking for antibiotics to be safe. Any specific ones I should ask for? Thanks.

I'm an owner of a small digital agency. Some of the marketing tech roles that we have in-house or have hired in the past include: SEO specialist. This role helps our clients rank higher in Google and other search marketing engines. You need to be familiar with how websites work, what goes into website ranking, and how to help content rank better. PPC specialist. This role manages our paid ads including Google, Facebook, etc. This role is a lot about numbers, testing copy and bids, understanding how landing pages work with ads, etc. Google Analytics and reporting specialist. In this role, you help set up analytics to track clients' websites and then create dashboards and other reporting as needed. Designer. Helps design websites and other creative assets as needed. Developer. Helps develop websites or looks into why things aren't working Project Manager. Helps manage projects. Needs to understand the technical aspects of the project but also be great at juggling timelines, budgets, and managing personnel. Agencies also have more creative roles (writing, social media, etc) that use some technology skills but are more on the creative side. While there is now more training on some of these types of careers (including Google), a lot of times if you start in an entry-level role or beginning developer, you can gain experience and transition to certain departments. The industry changes so fast that self-education is really important. If you want to go more in-depth about any of these fields, I'm happy to help more or can answer questions in a PM.

We're currently in a wait-and-see with our banking. We own a small business, so the weekend bank run hit a little close to home. It would be a nightmare to not be able to run payroll because your assets are frozen due to no fault of your own and when you thought you were being prudent and responsible with your cash management. My most important job as a business owner is making payroll and taking care of our employees so they can care for our clients. In the next few weeks, we'll likely open up business accounts with a second bank to diversify where our assets are. I'm hesitant to do it this week when things seem so fragile. For our household accounts, they are already spread between two banks and so I feel a little more secure that way.

So while I know that SVC was on shaky ground and regulations had been rolled back, I have to wonder how much a handful of VCs are responsible for causing the panic and bank run. And then those same VCs were the ones to take it to twitter and social media about how this could become a contagion and affect other banks. It seemed the more they talked about it - the more likely a domino effect would happen. So not only were they playing with their own industry, but the whole economy as a whole. Low-interest rates benefit their industry a lot, so this almost felt like a lever they could pull to influence the feds on interest rates. It ties into game theory - is it better to do what you think is best for your own personal gain (or their portfolio companies), even if that makes it more likely to bring down the whole system collectively? Also, with the changes in social media and the speed at which you can move assets that have happened in the past decade, it adds a new level of social risk with little responsibility tied to it.

Yikes. I updated the link. Does that one work better? If not, I'll remove.

I've been following this all weekend. I feel that this is a pretty good article that sums it up what led to the collapse. A few key takeaways. I did my best to summarize this, but I may be missing some things. SVB is a unique bank in that it services mainly the tech and startup community. This leaves it vulnerable in a few ways. In 2020 and 2021 there was a lot of cash flowing into startups from VC companies. Banks have to make money and most traditional banks balance out the deposits they receive and loan them back out to other bank members. With all the money flooding into startups, startsup weren't taking out as many loans and so SBV had to find another way to generate profit. They did this by buying long-term treasury loans (many 10-year loans) that they would get interest off of. These are often seen as pretty secure. In 2022, interest rates kept rising. This made VC companies fund fewer companies and so the startup money started drying up. This also meant less deposits coming into the bank and more people pulling their money out to fund their companies. Even with less money coming into startups, VCs felt that they weren't as conservative with their spending and were burning too much cash. With the rapid rise of interest rates, the value of SVC's treasury bonds fell. At the end of 2022, there was an article that questioned how stable SVB was, but many people ignored it. Earlier last week, SVB sold some of their bonds to balance their sheets, but they lost money doing so. This spooked the venture capital community. The VC/startup community is pretty tight knit and known for a herd mentality. Led by Peter Thiel, VCs started talking to each other and felt that they needed to protect their companies and the best way to do that was to call all of the companies and tell them to pull out of SVC right away. So everyone started to pull out and did a run on the bank. The bank couldn't fulfill the quick demand of all the money being pulled out and on Friday it was shut down. Due to the quickness of the bank run, about 1/4 of the bank's assets were pulled out within a day - making it one of the largest bank failings. A large majority of money at SVB was above the FDIC limit of $250K per account. SVB required that companies that had loans with them keep all of their money in the bank. In addition, companies are different than households and need more than $250K to run their business, including payroll. If their payroll is $2.5 million, it's not efficient to spread that across 10 accounts to stay under the FDIC limit. When the funds froze on Friday, companies were worried about making payroll and paying their vendors. There was no messaging about how long the funds above $250K would be frozen - days, weeks months? The industry was worried about people not getting paid and companies shutting down fairly quickly. VCs started pressuring the FDIC to step in and at least make the depositors whole. They were very vocal and were concerned there could be contagion and people and businesses that bank with regional banks could be spooked and pull out of regional banks and put their money in the big 4 banks. This could lead to the collapse of regional banks. Last night, it was announced that anyone who had deposits at SVC would have access to all of their money. The FDIC would step in and guarantee the deposits by assessing all the banks a type of fee to help cover the costs. The feds would also offer loans to banks whose bonds have tumbled in value if needed. The hope is that eventually there will be a buyer for SVC, but that takes time and speed was of the essence to help depositors and businesses feel their money is safe. They will not be bailing out SVC - that company is gone and the shareholders and managers lost all of their value in it. I have my own thoughts to add, but have to jump off to a meeting.

I’ll chime in. I’m trying to get back into more cardio and maybe train for a half marathon. I ran one a few years ago but need to build my base. That means starting to run again and cross train with cycling. I am also trying to do yoga or stretch 3 times/week and do some light lifting 2x/week. The tricky part will be when school starts again. We have a puppy and I’m afraid if I get up at 6 I’ll wake him up for the day and lose my workout time. He usually gets up around 6:30 or 6:45. I can keep and eye on him when I lift or do yoga, but not when I’m running or cycling. I also want to play pickle ball. I got the equipment for Christmas and played it today with my husband at a local park. We had a great time and my heart rate was definitely up.

Another thing to be aware of besides hoarding is incontinence issues and if you’re willing to buy a house that would need to be cleaned up after they move out. I would physically go to their house to assess the situation before I bought a new house vs getting them an apartment.

I've had mine for about a year. I don't use it a lot, but it's handy to have when I need it. I've also loaned it out to a friend. Things I've created with it: Cut out fabric squares for a quilt. It didn't do a great job at this and still took quite a bit of time. Making t-shirts. All of my sisters came into town, and at the last minute decided we wanted matchings shirts. It was really easy to use the Cricut to cut the vinyl and then iron it on the shirts. I'm not sure how long the shirts will last, and I try not to wear mine often. Making bags. My friend borrowed it to make personalized gift bags for teachers and was happy with it. Making vinyl earrings. I tried this, but might have used the wrong vinyl or mat. It didn't turn out well, but I want to try it again. Cutting paper. I've made some cards with it, and my daughter used it to cut out letters for a school poster. I do like using it when I can, but I probably could have done without it and used the one at our library. I'm not interested in the cup press because I don't have room for lots of mugs. I'm also a minimalist and so won't create a ton of tshirts with it. But it's fun to use now and again.

Thanks!

Hi, I have a quick question. I'm not a frequent poster, but I read this forum a lot and know how diverse it is. Do people who live in Kingston, TN go by Central or Eastern Time Zone? Google says Eastern, but someone I know from Kingston is saying they live in Central timezone, and it's important for me to know if they're telling the truth or not. I know some areas of the country, even if they're assigned one timezone, will go by another close timezone. If anyone is familiar with the area I'd love to know. Thanks!

Women who will never get an abortion will still see the ramifications of this legislation by the states. Many of these points have been made, but it's worth understanding how impactful some of this legislation is. Access to contraceptives could be at risk. The way the leaked document was argued was that the right to privacy (which Roe v Wade is based on) isn’t exclusively laid out in the constitution and that historical precedence before the past 50 years should take priority. The rights to contraception, mixed-race marriages, same-sex marriages, and sodomy (what happens in the bedroom) are all based on the reasoning and similar cases that state you have a right to privacy even if it’s not explicitly stated in the constitution. These cases were referenced in the article, even though Alito said it would the ruling would only apply to Roe V Wade (but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t change in the future). Some Republicans argue that contraceptives that affect implantation are like abortion, and so if abortion is unlawful and/or rights are granted to the fetus at fertilization, contraception could be at risk. If women aren’t allowed access to contraception, that can affect their health, their career, and their family’s security. And access to contraceptives may be threatened even for women who have a medical reason (like PCOS or heavy periods) to use contraception. Again, reduced access to contraceptives is more likely for more conservative states or if national legislation under Republicans is passed. Pregnant women’s health and safety is at risk. If abortion is unlawful then providing maternal health is risky for providers. Some states have extremely harsh fines or penalties of jail for providers who assist in an abortion. As providers may not stay up on state laws, they will be conservative in how they treat pregnant women and may delay even lifesaving treatment for women until it’s too late due to their concerns about the fetus and being accused of providing abortion, even if the fetus isn’t viable. Women may also delay seeking prenatal care because if they do naturally miscarry, they don’t want to be accused of abortion. In addition, in states where a fetus is granted rights at fertilization, women may be limited on the types of medications they can take because it might harm fetuses and you don’t know when fertilization will occur. Some laws also don’t prevent exemptions for cases such as ectopic pregnancies. Finally, women who are pregnant are at a higher risk of being abused or murdered by their domestic partners. Women could be charged for miscarriages. Louisiana is putting forth a bill that equates abortion to murder and states that the unborn should be protected at fertilization. This law can criminalize women who obtain an abortion or those who help them. Many abortions these days are caused by using pills, and a doctor can’t tell the difference between a natural miscarriage and an abortion caused by pills. So women who have a natural miscarriage could be accused of murder and threatened with jail time. The criminalization will most likely affect women who are poor and lead to their children being put in foster care. On a personal note, when I had my miscarriage, I went to the hospital due to excessive bleeding. I received nothing but care and compassion. If the law had changed and I was concerned that I could be jailed because a doctor thought I had caused an abortion, I would not have sought medical care. Other women will delay or avoid getting needed or emergency medical care as well. Women’s bodily autonomy and right to privacy will go down. If a fetus is granted the same rights at fertilization as women, then women’s privacy will go down because it will be in the state’s interest to know if they are protecting the fetus. Women who aren’t even pregnant may be restricted in alcohol intake, the medications they take, the risky activities they take, and more due to the potential to harm a fetus. There are already apps getting funding that can track if women visit abortion or maternal health clinics. And in some states like Texas there is a financial incentive for people to report when a woman has a suspected abortion. Some states are also looking for ways to prevent women from traveling to get an abortion, so women's freedom to travel without the state getting involved may be at risk. Poverty will increase. Low-income women are 5 times more likely than affluent women to experience an unwanted pregnancy. In addition, financial reasons and/or providing for existing dependents is a common reason to obtain an abortion. Women who are well-off will most likely be able to travel for an abortion or access “illegal” contraception. These laws will hit the young, poor, and those who are already struggling to provide for their families the hardest. And studies have shown that worldwide the best way to reduce poverty is to help with family planning through contraceptives. Studies have also shown that women with unplanned pregnancies who didn’t have the means for contraceptives or abortion were worse off financially five years later. With these bills, there is no increase in social support such as maternity leave, free prenatal care or healthcare, or preschool. The very thing (access to free contraceptives) that could help reduce the abortion rate may no longer be an option. And depending on how businesses react to this legislation, women’s careers may be at risk if employers don’t want to employ women who are at a higher risk of becoming pregnant more often. And insurance companies may raise their prices or drop maternity coverage due to cost and potential for liability. Abortions will still happen. Women have been getting abortions since the beginning of time. These laws will not change that, just change women’s safety and their rights in society. Studies have shown that abortions go down under Democratic presidents because they support easier access to contraceptives and sex education.

A friend offered to engrave a bracelet for me. I'm trying to think of what phrase/words I'd put on it. Here are some of my thoughts - although some are a bit cliche. My kids initials Courage Strong back, soft front Savor the moments No day but today Love conquers all What are some things you've had engraved or words or phrases that mean a lot to you?

Thank you! These suggestions look great, and I already have one on hold at the library.

I'm looking for books that talk about parenting teens. I have a 14 year old DS, 12 year old DD and 9 year old DS, and so the teenage years are becoming more real and this is new territory. Our parenting style is more about relationships over rules, although we know the importance of setting boundaries and expectations. Our oldest has Aspergers, which adds another component to parenting teens. Any suggestions for books that talk about how to communicate with teens, how to talk about things like drug, sex, etc in an age appropriate manner, and how to help teens feel loved? Our kids are in public school if that makes a difference. I don't post often, but I do read a lot on this board and value the collective wisdom on this forum. Thanks!

I use an app called HomeRoutines. You can customize it for zone cleaning, daily cleaning, weekly cleaning, etc. My only complaint is that it has 5 zones by default, and I only need 4.

I'm a long-time lurker, but I thought I'd chime in. There are two moments (so far) that I think I'll always remember when it comes to this virus. The first is when I saw the Coronavirus thread in Jan(?) and read the three or four pages while watching a show in bed. I remember thinking this could be something to pay attention to. And I did keep visiting the thread over the next few months. My undergrad was in public health. And although I haven't held a job in that field, I remember wondering when our country would do more testing and contact tracing, even when there were just a few cases. I also wondered why we didn't do more at the airports. Topics that were also mentioned in this forum. The second moment was when I came home from book club on a Wed night and then learned the NBA and other major leagues cancelled games and Trump had banned some flights. It seemed to all happen so fast, when it did happen, and happen while I was away at book club. I appreciate this forum. Even though I don't homeschool, I value this forum for the support you show to each other, the variety of opinions that are still respectful to each other, and the wisdom. Because of this forum, I shopped for a little extra a few weeks before everyone else and felt more prepared.

I mostly lurk on these forums, but I think starting a business can be exciting -although scary - and so I thought I'd chime in. We started ours seven years ago, and we now have a few employees. I agree that cashflow is so important. When we started, we were just out of school, renting a cheap place, and used to living frugally. I was also earning some money from transcription and my husband did some freelance work in college that he was able to turn into clients. So money was tight, but we were able to make living expenses between the two of us before we really grew the business. I would think it would have been harder if we were used to a higher standard of living when we started. Some things that have helped us through the years: Not going into debt for the business. We have a service business, and so we are paid mostly for our time. We've been able to bootstrap the business and still carry a healthy savings cushion. We try to keep our expenses low. Have recurring income. Most of our services are recurring so we know about how much money we'll be bringing in each month. If you can swing recurring, I highly recommend it. Know the basics of starting a business such as what you need to set it up legally, how to separate business and personal bank accounts, etc. You can start simple and go from there. For example, for the first few years we were a sole proprietor LLC and only when it made sense did we transition to an S-Corp and start doing payroll. Keep a cashflow statement. I use this template from SCORE to track how much estimated income we have coming in, estimated expenses, etc. I update this monthly and refer to this when we think about incurring a large expense, hiring a new employee, or seeing how much our profit should increase or decrease based on projected revenue/expenses. Have a sales plan and network with others. We're still trying new things with marketing our business, but so far word of mouth has been the most successful. Get familiar with taxes. We use a professional accountant, but I have a spreadsheet that I can estimate our taxes on throughout the year so I know about how much to save up for taxes. After a year or two, look over your tax statements so you know how your taxes work and you can start estimating how much you'll owe. Be prepared to owe April 15 instead of receiving a refund and paying estimated quarterly taxes. Overall, the business has helped us financially and we enjoy a good work/life balance. I work in the business with my husband now that my kids are in school. For the most part it works well, but there are times when something has to get out right away and so I'm at the computer and not available to my kids. I also have to hire a babysitter in the summer.

I've done well running this summer and have been concerned that now it's fall and getting colder and darker, which makes running during the day harder for me. But my friend (who has always hated running) asked me this week if I wanted to run with her in the mornings. I hate running in the dark by myself, but I can do it with a friend. So we've already gone once this week and are going again today or tomorrow. I'm really excited to have a close-by running friend.

Spot It is very compact and easy to play with a range of ages.

I'm currently working on my 101 goals in 1001 days list. This was some idea that I found online. What I like about it is that it's a mix of larger and smaller goals and there's a day that it ends. Some of my goals are really simple like read 3 history books, complete a 30 day yoga challenge, do 10 hours of stand up paddleboarding, buy a jean jacket, etc. Some are a little bigger like get a passport and travel to a foreign country, learn 5 songs on the guitar, write an adult short story, etc. I have my goals divided into sections like family, education, talents, service, social, house projects, etc. I find that when I'm bored I can refer to my list and see if there's any small goals I can knock out.